Michael Clayton writer/director gets beyond the mechanics of screenwriting and to heart of the matter – imagination [via GreenCine - added podcast.] The podcast itself is a nice little film school compacted into a half an hour program hosted by the always enjoyable Elvis Mitchell. What I like about it is its a real inside take on the process of filmmaking from a doer. Not to take anything away from anyone. I’m a doer. You might be a doer. What I mean is he’s a pro writer turned director who isn’t talking out of his ass like some guru who has never been in the trenches. The real trenches. Twenty years of grinding it out only to emerge now with a project that is getting much attention. When I saw it in the theater all I kept thinking was how much I wanted to read the screenplay [you can download a PDF here.]

I attended a Script to Screen event that the IFP hosted around 2000-01(?) and Gilroy spoke with Raymond De Felitta about screenwriting. It was early on in his career and he was coming off Proof of Life. I remember thinking “that is what a pro screenwriter sounds like.” The guy walked the walk. As you will gather from listening to the podcast you’ll get the idea that he’s worked on his share of questionable films but it’s also where he learned his craft and how to swim the political waters of Hollywood. You can see the culmination of all that in Michael Clayton. You can also see the early films of Alan J. Pakula in it too which is a plus in my book. It is a shame the film got buried amongst the muck early in the year because as far as what Hollywood is celebrating right now as Academy Award fare, this is as good as I’ve seen in a long time.

The very first screenplay I attempted to write many, many years ago was absolutely horrible. I was like a man in the dark trying to hammer a nail into the wall. I don’t even know if it’s floating around, probably on a diskette somewhere in my grandmother’s garage. It had something of an I’m not my brother’s keeper theme. One brother trying in vein to keep the other more fucked-up brother out of trouble. I got about 40 pages in and gave up. The loss to the world is minimal, trust me.

After that experience I thought I should look into how to do this screenwriting thing. One of the first books I read on the subject was not the Syd Field opus but Screenwriting: The Art, Craft, and Business of Film and Television Writing. I still have the copy and it’s a good companion piece to Screenplay if you’re starting out. At that time I was struggling to take on a new screenplay. I was driving for a car service, going to NYU and had dreams of being the next Scorsese. Honing my skills to become that allusive hyphenate, writer-director. Well, we all know how dangerous that dream can be. Never compare yourself to another artist in your field. Steal from the best but don’t try to become them. Hey, I was young. Scorsese did serve a purpose though. He was a film school unto himself and I wouldn’t have such a voracious appetite for cinema and seeing the variety of films I have seen if I didn’t take a cue from that crazed cinematic genius with the bushy eyebrows from Elizabeth Street.

I was trying to find my voice and write from my experiences, something that a graduate of his School of Cinematic Obsessives always did. So I crafted the beginnings of a story wrapped around the rich background of the job that was paying my bills [along with various freelance production work.] What started out as a short story became Where Are You Seventeen? [a title stolen from a friend's story with a similar backdrop but a different take. Don't worry, I got his permission. In the end, it didn't matter anyway.] Writing it became an odyssey. Many, many drafts later I had a great collection of scenes but nothing to string it all together. Character has always been my strong suit but bottom line, you need a story. You can translate that anyway you want. It can be as heavy handed as Liar, Liar or emotionally subtle as The Passenger. All the bullshit about how you can’t trivialize your story by clarifying it into one sentence is just that, bullshit. If you can’t crystallize your story into a line or two you have a problem. Even if it’s just a very surface take on it, it needs to start with some core thesis. I’m not even talking about benefiting the audience or people you’re trying to sell the idea to. This is for the writer’s benefit.

So I had issues to sort out. Years passed until I finally got my shit together. Not knowing what to do with this collection of miscreants I called a screenplay I looked for compatriots. Others in the trenches. I come to terms with the fact that if I don’t get serious about my writing I’m just wasting my time. Harsh, probably but true. People do write just for the joy of writing don’t they? My m.o. was different. The screenplay is just the blueprint. I wanted to make films, you know, for a living. [Oh yeah, I made a screenwriter and many other like-minded individuals on the interweb and found I was not alone. The books are great but feedback is better. The right feedback. Just knowing that you are not alone in an endeavor that demands being alone was helpful but nothing will replace hard work and finding your story on the page by sitting down and doing it.

I set a timeline for myself that coincided with the Nicholl Fellowship and the Sundance Lab. It really didn’t matter if I won, I knew the odds. I knew my grimy little downer story of police corruption and a lonely cab driver sacrificing his own happiness for his mother’s mental health wasn’t even on the their radar. Or maybe it just sucks. Either way it was the boost I needed to get the newly titled Dyre Avenue to a better place. It is now in a better place, it can probably use another pass but it has come a long way and I’m proud of the work I have done to get it there. Yeah, so what. No sleep until I’m cold and stiff right? I needed to take all this knowledge and write something new. Something that had a sense of immediacy and urgency [a couple of elements I think I'm actually good at.] I took on the new one. The untitled one. First draft done.

So here I sit writing this entry that has taken up way more space than I intended it to but a fresh start is upon us so I thought I would purge. I feel the itch to make another short so that is something I will try to get in the can at some point. Rewriting, rewriting rewriting. A new screenplay is swarming in my head too. I have a lot of work to do. A lot of work.

Just a note: I don’t endorse any of the screenwriting books. They all have their place but I don’t look to any one of them for answers on how to fix my screenplay. They do have some value though. They give you ideas and creative solutions for some problems but no one books is the answer. Like I said, with a grain of salt. Like everything you’ve read here.

I believe that aspiring screenwriters could learn more from film scholars (aka “film bloggers”) then they would from most screenwriting gurus.

Analysis, reviews, food for thought and the invaluable script breakdowns via Miriam, this site recognizes the importance of balancing a well-rounded, fully developed screenplay with a good understanding of visual storytelling. It represents why I think the blogosphere serves a filmmaker’s need to explore the multi-disciplined craft of filmmaking but at the same time doesn’t just drink the Kool-Aid served up by the “gurus.”

Thanks Mystery Man, whoever you are.